Papers of Dorothy Bishop (b. 1943), Bethel Community, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, resident and community activist, 1943-2009. Papers include flyers, legal documents, newspaper clippings, photographs, letters, programs and other materials documenting the Oktibbeha County NAACP and the Concerned Citizens of Oktibbeha County and their activities in pursuit of racial equality, human rights and recognition for the contributions of African-American civil rights pioneers, circa 1970-2009 and undated. Drawings, photographs and clippings document efforts to erect an appropriate civil rights monument in Starkville. Persons extensively documented in the Oktibbeha County materials are Dorothy Bishop, Morris Kinsey, and Dr. Douglas Conner. Both the Mississippi NAACP and the National NAACP are also documented in conference proceedings, procedural manuals, solicitation literature and clippings. Publications documenting the contributions of African-Americans and African-American history include materials on Medgar Evers, Dr. Aaron Henry, Barack Obama and others. Personal materials of Dorothy Bishop include family history materials, letters, personal writings and interviews, photographs, legal documents, awards and certificates, medal and other materials.

Butts (Charles L.) collectionMSS. 629. 0.16 cubic feet.

Newspapers, manuscript of article, journal concerning the civil rights movement in Mississippi and the Mississippi Free Press, edited by Charles L. Butts from 1962-1963. Materials found in a garage in Phoenix Arizona, and donated to the Library. Small group of papers documenting Charles Butts, editor of the Mississippi Free Press, a newspaper advocating for civil and human rights. Includes typewritten pages written for the paper and for publicity, articles about Charles Butts, copies of the Missisippi Free Press (1962-1963), copies of The Reporter (1962, 1963) containing civil rights articles, and "Justice", a civil rights brochure.

Correspondence, personal papers, literary manuscripts, and publications concerning the Carters and their careers. Hodding Carter (1907-1972) was born in Louisiana and attended Bowdoin College and the Columbia University School of Journalism. He began his career in journalism in the 1920's as a reporter in Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Carter and Betty Werlein of New Orleans were married in 1931, and soon after started their own newspaper, the Hammond (Louisiana) Courier. With Hodding as editor and Betty as business manager, the Courier consistently opposed the rule of Huey Long. Hodding Carter ran for the House of Representatives in 1935 after Long's death, but was defeated. In 1936, at the invitation of William Alexander Percy, the Carters moved to Greenville, Mississippi and set up the Delta Star. Two years later the Star was merged to form the Delta Democrat-Times. Carter was best known after World War II for his editorials, magazine articles, books, and speeches advocating racial justice in the south. Carter's 1946 series urging racial tolerance earned him the Pulitzer Prize. In 1954, the Mississippi House of Representatives voted him a "liar" for his articles on the Citizens' Councils. The Carter papers document the important events and social movements to which the Carters were witnesses or participants, such as the political careers of Huey Long and Theodore Bilbo, World War II, the Office of War Information, the rise of the Citizen's Councils in the 1950's, the integration of the University of Mississippi in 1962, and changes in race relations throughout the country. Hodding Carter (1907-1972) was the owner of the Hammond (La.) Courier and the Delta Star (Greenville, Miss.), which later became the Delta Democrat-Times. Among other important social and political events of the time, the Carter papers document the rise of the Citizen's Councils in the 1950s, the integration of the University of Mississippi in 1962, and changes in race relations throughout the country.

The collection consists of the personal and business papers of William Turner Catledge (1901-1983), graduate of Mississippi A&M College, journalist, and editor of The New York Times. The bulk of the files date from 1945 to 1968, the period during which Catledge served as assistant managing editor, executive managing editor, managing editor, and executive editor of the Times. Included are correspondence, memoranda, clippings, reports, photographs, tapes, phonograph records, memorabilia, and publications. The collection is divided into two series: 1 - papers transferred to MSU from the Catledge home in New Orleans; and, 2 - office files transferred to MSU from the Times office in New York.

Citizens' Council collectionMSS. 331. 1955-1967. 1 cubic foot.

Includes correspondence, annual reports, and publications of the Association of Citizens' Councils of Mississippi, the Citizens' Council of America, and various other organizations. Includes correspondence, annual reports, and publications of the Association of Citizens' Councils of Mississippi, the Citizens' Council of America, and various other organizations. Among the documents are pamphlets opposing integration and promoting white supremacy.

Radio programs produced by the Citizens' Council of Jackson, Mississippi, 1957-1966, covering issues like states rights and integration. Transcripts available for the bulk of the tapes. Speakers include George Wallace and Strom Thurmond.

Broadsides, leaflets, circulars, publications, comics and other materials documenting Anti-Communism, anti-Semitism, anti-left-wing activities, segregationism, and the American Eugenics Party in the United States. Concerns the reaction to the modern civil rights movement in the United States from 1937 to 1969, including Anti-Communist, Anti-Semitic, and anti-integration viewpoints. Includes brochures, broadsides, and other materials from the American Eugenics Party, the Black Panthers, and other unnamed groups.

The Allen Eugene Cox papers contain the papers of Allen Eugene Cox (1905-1992), former resident director of Providence Cooperative Farm, Holmes County, Mississippi, and later executive director of the Delta Foundation. The papers include correspondence, ledgers, newspaper clippings, publications, photographs and films. Correspondence, published material, clippings, and other material collected by Allen Eugene Cox of the Delta Foundation, chiefly pertaining to the racial problems in the South and cooperative farms. Includes information on the White Citizens' Council, Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, National Council of Churches, COFO, NAACP, SNCC and related organizations, farm labor unions, cooperatives, and black and white Southern leaders.

Correspondence, clippings, biographical sketches, manuscripts, research material, publications, photographs, and memorabilia, of John Oliver Emmerich, Sr., editor and publisher of the McComb, Mississippi, Enterprise Journal. Much of the collection concerns Emmerich's career and his strong interest in McComb. Included are many photographs of and much research material about the history of McComb and Pike County, which were collected for the centennial edition of the Enterprise Journal.

Correspondence, articles and clippings, speeches, photographs, awards, audiotapes and other records documenting the journalistic career of Fields (1923-2010), reporter for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. Fields in 1975 was made capitol news reporter. She is the first female Mississippi journalist to head a full-time capitol news bureau. Field's papers reflect local and state events during her early years as a reporter, including material such as her 1967 multi-part series on her interview with a disillusioned Klan member. For the period from 1975 until Field's retirement in 1988, the papers include much material on legislative sessions and issues, women's rights, local and state politics, and the elections and gubernatorial administrations of Cliff Finch, Bill Allain, William Winter and Ray Mabus. An oral history by Dr. Lawrence Strout was added in 2009.

Papers of Methodist minister Garland H. Holloman include correspondence, publications, articles, newsletters and other materials documenting controversy in the United Methodist Church concerning civil rights, the National Council of Churches, Communism and other issues. Includes newsletters of the Mississippi Association of Methodist Ministers and Laymen (MAMMAL), 1959-1965, manuscript of Ray Branch article, and material on the Mississippi State Advisory Committee to the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights (1968-1975).

Collection of Methodist minister and North Mississippi Methodist Conference leader John David Humphrey, Sr. includes civil rights material involving the Methodist Church in the South and events in Mississippi, including the Ole Miss riot and Philadelphia murders. Collection bulks with church literature in pamphlet form on controversies such as Communism, segregation, the National Council of Churches and racism. Also includes newsletters and correspondence of Mississippi Association of Methodist Ministers and Laymen (MAMMAL), 1962-1964.

Love (Samuel David) collectionMSS. 647. 1952-1969. 0.75 cubic feet.

Materials on the Loyalist Democratic Party, voter registration, and the Citizens' Council during the 1950's and 1960's including printed material, correspondence, interview and press releases. Also included are an article and photographs concerning poverty in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, 1969. Materials were collected by MSU alumnus Samuel David Love. Unprocessed. Preliminary inventory available.

Mars (Florence) PapersMSS. 547. 6 cubic feet.

McIlhenny (George N.) papersMSS. 226. 1927-1970s. 6 cubic feet.

Collection of Mississippi State University alumnus George N. McIlhenny (1895-1968) of Lake (Scott County), Mississippi, includes personal and family correspondence, publications, photographs, memorabilia and other materials from his life and career as a consultant. Among the materials are Thomas L. Bailey gubernatorial campaign material, 1939; materials concerning the Know Mississippi Better Train, 1927, and the Citizens Protective Agency. Also includes letters from Martin Sennett Conner, James P. Coleman, Ross Barnett, James O. Eastland, John C. Stennis and others concerning McIlhenny's genetic studies on sickle cell anemia and his theories concerning the medical necessity for racial segregation. Also includes Citizens' Council materials from Alabama and Mississippi, material on the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway and studies for economic development in Harrison and Claiborne Counties and other topics.

Meyer (Henry) papersMSS. 528. circa 1930s-2000. 4 cubic feet.

Papers of Henry Meyer (1912-2000), native of Selma, Alabama, 1932 journalism and English graduate of the University of Alabama and Starkville, Mississippi, resident from 1933. After managing Blumenfeld and Fried, a Starkville wholesale grocery business from 1933 to 1946, Meyer and his brother Morris in 1946 purchased the Starkville Publishing Company, a firm which handled job printings and office supplies and published the Starkville News, then a weekly newspaper. The Meyers published the local paper, which became a daily in 1960, from 1946-1966. The papers include a small amount of material concerning the Starkville Daily News, including photographs, awards and clippings. Other materials in the papers include correspondence, awards, speeches, clippings, diplomas, photographs, scrapbooks, audiotapes and other materials documenting Meyer's education, career, teaching and organizational activities, his family background, and the activities of his children. Meyer's other journalism activities include managing and advising the MSU Reflector, publishing the local high school newspaper and the MSU Alumnus, and teaching journalism at MSU. Of special interest is a scrapbook documenting the activities of his son Melvin Meyer at the University of Alabama, 1961-1964. Meyer was editor of the school newspaper and was censured for writing favorably of James Meredith and integration at the University of Mississippi.

Papers of Willie J. Miller (1902-1996), a native of Yazoo City, Mississippi, and a resident of Jackson, Mississippi, who established the Mississippi Enterprise, a weekly newspaper targeting Mississippi African-Americans in 1938. The forerunner of the paper was the Mississippi Weekly begun by Julia Hibbler Miller, Miller's first wife. The paper was sent to St. Louis for printing during the early days of its publication history. In the 1950s, editions of the Mississippi Enterprise were also published in Meridian, Vicksburg, Greenville and St. Louis. Apparently materials generated from the early production years of the newspaper are no longer extant. The papers include manuscripts of articles, press releases, obituaries, advertising copy, photographs, financial records, newspapers and other materials, primarily from the years 1974-1988. Photographs are those collected for printing in the paper and these document African American events, institutions, issues and personalities. The textual materials in the newspaper files also document national, state and local African American history, including materials on events, issues and personalities. The papers also contain some general documentation of non-African- American historical events and personalities.

Minor (Wilson F. "Bill") papersMSS. 80. 1936-2011. 27.75 cubic feet.

Correspondence, articles, speeches, press releases, campaign materials, clippings, photographs and other documents amassed in the course of Minor's career as a journalist in Mississippi. Minor was born in Hammond, Louisiana, in 1922 and received his degree in journalism from Tulane University. He began work for the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 1942. Beginning in 1947, Minor worked in Jackson as a reporter on Mississippi politics for the Times-Picayune, and continued writing his "Eyes on Mississippi" column until the paper's Jackson bureau was closed in 1976. A specialist in Mississippi politics, Minor in that year elected to stay in Jackson and take over the editorship of the weekly Capitol Reporter. In 1981, Minor became a syndicated political columnist and television commentator. The Minor papers are an important continuous source of information on news and political events, and the issues and personalities of the time period of Minor's career, with emphasis on racial issues and the political development of Mississippi. In addition, they tell the story of a most controversial and influential journalist.

Oral History collectionMSS. 550. 1950s-2001. circa 3 cubic feet

Oral histories of extension agents, politicians and local citizens. Topics include African-American history, women's history, the Vietnam War, agriculture, and Mississippi State University, Starkville and West Point history.

Partial Emmitt Till trial transcript MSS. 802. 1955. 0.02
cubic ft.

Fully legible copy of the typescript transcript of the second half of the trial for the murder of
Emmitt Till. This material was collected by Bryan Maxwell Newman, who obtained the copy shortly
after the trial concluded in 1955. Mr. Newman was employed near Greenwood, Mississippi where the
trial took place.

Piper (Craig) collectionMSS. 497. 1992 and undated. 0.25 cubic feet.

Research materials for Piper's M.A. thesis, "The Civil Rights Movement in Starkville, Mississippi: A Local Struggle for Equality, 1968-1973". Materials include audiotapes of the Civil Rights Forum, oral interviews and note cards.

Rand (Clayton) papersMSS. 91. 1918-1971. 33 cubic feet.

Papers of Clayton Thomas Rand (1891-1971), author, columnist, speaker, and publisher of the Dixie Guide, Gulfport, Mississippi. Rand graduated from Mississippi A&M College in 1911, operated newspapers in Neshoba County and other parts of north Mississippi, and in the 1920's moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where he resided until his death. Included are correspondence; manuscripts of speeches, books, pamphlets, and columns; financial records; clippings; printed material and photographs. The collection reflects Rand's varied activities and his political views.

Reiff (Lee H.) collectionMSS. 382. 1966-1972. 2 cubic feet.

Minutes, bylaws, memoranda, reports, grant proposals, and printed matter concerning the Board of Directors of the Child Development Group of Mississippi and its successor organization, the Inter-Area Council of the Community Education Extension of Mary Holmes College. The organizations administered Head Start Programs funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity.

Robson (George) collectionMSS. 422. 1968-1972. 0.16 cubic feet.

Printed material concerning mostly civil disobedience in the U.S. during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Among the items in the collection are a pamphlet entitled "The Plot Against Black America" and Combat: The Newsletter that keeps you informed about the revolutionary struggle in America today.

Smith (Frank E.) collectionMSS. 94. 1962-1973. 22 cubic feet.

Collection of Frank Smith (1918-1997) includes the following: material pertaining to Mr. Smith's work with TVA; material accumulated as a result of his service on the Southern Regional Council; materials for the five volume series he edited, Conservation in the U.S.: A Documentary History.

Smith (Hazel Brannon) papersMSS. 445. 1945-1976. 0.75 cubic feet.

Letters, clippings, pamphlets, certificates, artifact and other materials concerning Smith (1914-1994). The bulk of Smith's papers were destroyed in a fire at the Lexington Advertiser. Smith was born in Gadsden, Alabama, and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1935 with a B.A. in Journalism. In that year she came to Mississippi and purchased the Durant News. By 1943, that paper was successful enough to allow Smith to purchase the Lexington Advertiser, which she edited and published from 1943 to 1983. Smith purchased the Banner County Outlook (Flora) in 1956 and the Northside Reporter (Jackson) in 1956. Smith used her column "Through Hazel's Eyes" and her editorials to comment on social injustice and political corruption. In 1964, because of her stand against the Citizens' Councils, Smith received the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing for her "steadfast adherence to her editorial duty in the face of great pressure and opposition". Smith was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Smith's other awards include the 1st prize award from the National Federation of Press Women 1946 and 1955; and the Herrick Award for Editorial Writing, 1956. Smith was also named Woman of Achievement by the National Federation of Press Women.

Toler (James Kenneth) papersMSS. 89. 1928-1966. 2 cubic feet.

Papers of journalist Toler (1904-1966) include correspondence, speeches, press releases, clippings, and photographs, chiefly concerning political, legislative, and racial events in Mississippi, during his career as a correspondent for the Associated Press and the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Toler was born in Crowley, Louisiana, and attended Louisiana State University. He began his career on the Crowley Daily Signal. Toler's specialty was Mississippi politics. From 1928 on he covered the Mississippi legislature and the capitol, and his papers reflect that specialty in their documentation of the outstanding events of the period.

Personal papers, correspondence, business records, clippings, photographs, extensive scrapbooks, oral histories, literary manuscripts, reminiscences and other materials concerning Robert Wier (1886-1974) and his wife Sadye Hunter Wier (1905-1995). Robert Wier, who operated and owned the City Barber Shop in Starkville, was the first and only African-American to have a business on Main Street. Sadye Wier was a teacher and home economist. Contains materials documenting the Hunter family of Noxubee County, who operated the Noxubee Industrial School, and the Macon family. Also included are records of Mrs. Wier's work with the Oddfellows Highway Cemetery, the Starkville Public Library and other organizations.

WLBT archivesMSS. 366. 1967-1980. 155 cubic feet.

Correspondence, memoranda, board minutes, programming logs, newscast scripts, photographs, videotapes, and news film documenting the policies and operation of television station WLBT in Jackson, Mississippi, during the period (1971-1980) in which Communications Improvement, Inc., a non-profit organization, held the station's interim license.